Pursuit Of The Shadow Snatchers
by Mall-Rat123
Summary: Smutty saloon girls, converted comets, evil mermaids, the Orient Express and two new companions force the Doctor to spring in to action whilst the threat of an unseen foe promises to shatter him to the core.


After a while, the repetition of an act could understandably become very stale, predictable and boring. Even such acts which are meant to be viewed as exciting such as meeting up with long lost friends after time spent apart, the annual meal with the family who otherwise have no time for each other and christmas... ignore christmas, that's a terrible example, christmas is always exciting and fresh, especially for that strange and obscure traveller known by many and too himself as the Doctor. A man of his age, life experiences and friendship patterns would most certainly get tired of repeating the same old act, especially if this act was undesirable to participate in. The Doctor was different, the brilliant, alarming and sometimes aloof old time traveller never got tired of this particular act. All previous incarnations may not have wished to participate but when the execution of this act had been carried out, they all enjoyed becoming accustomed to the after effects. This particular act was of course the regernation cycle, a cycle carried out so many times before but was the consistent bone shackling, breath taking roller coaster ride it always had been. However, there was always one thing that niggled the Doctor, at least in his previous two forms... he still wasn't ginger!

Alas, maybe it is never meant to be, the Doctor would never get the mane of ginger locks which he so desired. The Timelord had been unreasonably envious of his old friend, Amy Pond, upon noticing her own hair colour but had learnt to keep it to himself, preventing the feisty scottish lass from taunting him and through the course of their time travelling together, the Doctor had come to accept that his wish of the particular hair colour was not meant to be. However, upon regeneration, he forgot all of that and hoped in vain for his desire to be granted. Now here he was, in a different body, no ginger hair and he... he was old! Recent companion, Clara Oswald, had taken much delight in teasing him like a sister would to a brother or, like she put it, a daughter would to a father. The Doctor dismissed it as nonsense, of course he was in a new body but insisted until he was red in the face that he was as only as old as he felt and on that note, considering his actual age, confirmed that he still felt as if he was the young age of six hundred and nine.

The Doctor had enjoyed Clara's company and was relieved that, aside from her jokes, she seemed comfortable with his regeneration instantly, unlike previous travelling companions who had taken a lot of time to grasp the situation. Of course Clara was aware that he could change his face and that, in part, leant itself towards making the transition from his former face, that and the fact that she had seen all of the James Bond films and he had changed his face without any reason at all. At least the Doctor had a pretty good reason for his switching faces. Her time in the Tardis came to an end, just like the Doctor expected, he had hoped that she would have stayed but he knew deep down that she, like many before her, had her own life to lead and that her time with the Doctor was just one small instance in what he was certain to be a huge and marvelous adventure.

Now the Doctor was all alone, in the Tardis, floating through some region of space with no place to go and no people to see and worst of all, he had all the time in the universe. Time to reflect and reflection was something the Doctor hated, instead preferring to run and carry on without looking back on the ones he lost and the times he wished he could forget but reflection was unavoidable as the faces of his granddaughter, Susan. Ian and Barbara, Vicki, Steven, Katarina, Sara, Dodo, Polly, Ben, Jamie, Victoria, Zoe, Liz, Jo, Sarah, Harry, Leela, Romana, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Peri, Mel, Ace, Grace, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble. The Ponds, Amy and Rory, his wife, River Song and Clara Oswald, the impossible girl, swam through his mind alongside all the others, both good and evil, which had impacted upon his life in some particular way. Some details were a little sketchy, such as forgetting what Jamie looked like or the fact that Leela wore bikini's all the time, he even thought that Martha Jones was an astrophysicist, Ace was a Doctor who helped him face the slitheen in downing street on the moon whilst Zoe Heriot had been an explosives expert. The Doctor's mind was usual an impecable source but during his regeneration cycles, the details of his life, much like his body, became an instant whirlpool and when the Doctor finally settled in to his body, his recollections became astute once more.

Running his fingers across the Tardis console, the Doctor sighed before chuckling to himself for such a theatrical expulsion of breath from his body. A thought swam in to his mind, a thought of where to go next. Now he didn't have a companion to negotiate with on where to go next, he had the freedom to go wherever he wanted however, he felt in his hearts that it wouldn't be the same. What was the point of seeing the nintieth wonder of the universe without anybody to share the moment with, he rid his mind of any desire to find a new travelling companion. For the time being, especially during his period of reflection, the Doctor did not think of bringing somebody new aboard the Tardis as the disappointment of his losses were too sore.

All of a sudden, the Tardis shuddered and crackled as the Doctor went flying across the control room and landing on the ground with a thud. The Tardis was being fired upon and disallowing any form of fear to wash over him, the Doctor dived over to the controls and began fidgeting furiously before pulling a variety of levers. Judging by the impact, a lot of damage had been caused. Of course, the Tardis wouldn't be destroyed but it would take some time to heal and without knowing what he was up againt, the Doctor knew that he had to get his precious ship out of there instantly. As the Tardis was struck once more, it whizzed and wheezed before exiting in to the time vortex.

Upon arrival at its new destination, the Tardis wheezed again and the Doctor immediately exited to survey the damage. After a few moments of deliberation, he was satisfied that the Tardis had only received some slight charring but decided to let her rest for a while, just in case she had received damage he was unable to detect. The Timelord then took a moment too look around before sighing regretfully as he noticed destroyed buildings, barren wastelands and murky waters before entering the Tardis to check what time period he had arrived in. both the Doctor's hearts threatened to fall in to the pit of his stomach as he realised what time period he was in and raced back outside to take in the sight once more and gasping in complete shock. The year was 2014 and London was no more...


End file.
